How to Save a Life
by fatcatjack9000
Summary: Gabriella, Taylor, Jason, Chad and Kelsi deal with Troy and the car crash. In one night it can all change...
1. How To Save a Life

**Disclaimer: **I do not own High School Musical or "How to Save a Life" by The Fray.

**A/N: **This idea is used quite a lot on FF, but I thought I'd try it out. I'm not very good at this type of writing, and I've never really liked this sort of genre, but I'm trying it out.

_Step one you say we need to talk_

_He walks you say sit down it's just a talk_

_He smiles politely back at you_

_You stare politely right on through_

Gabriella stood, looking on at what had just happened. Lights, sirens and so many other distractions were all around her, while she was just standing in the evening darkness. All she could see was Troy's red sports car, squashed between a truck and a van. The driver stumbled out of the van, obviously drunk, wobbling on his feet. The cops rushed to him and put him in handcuffs. Gabriella looked at the truck and saw the driver, slumped over at the wheel, no evidence of any injuries, other than his head, bleeding on the wheel. Gabriella felt sorry for the truck driver. _He was innocent, he didn't do anything wrong, _she thought, _just like Troy. _She sighed and hugged her jacket around her.

_Some sort of window to your right_

_As he goes left and you stay right_

_Between the lines of fear and blame_

_And you begin to wonder why you came_

Taylor, Chad, Jason and Kelsi ran up to her. She had phoned them a couple minutes ago. The firefighters and police had been working for over half an hour trying to free Troy.

"We came as fast as we could," Taylor panted.

"Yeah, traffic was backed up really badly so we just ran the last 5 blocks," Kelsi panted. Gabriella couldn't help but smile weakly.

"Thanks, you guys," Gabriella smiled. Chad gave her a hug from behind and began rubbing her shoulders.

"Stay in there, G," he said, using Gabriella's nickname he gave her. She smiled. Chad and Gabriella were really close; Gabriella claimed he was the brother she never had. Flashes of earlier that night began to play in Gabriella's mind.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life_

**:Flashback:**

**Gabriella laughed as Taylor cranked up the music. Daniel (a basketball player and a good friend of Troy's) was having a party; his parents were out of town and East High Basketball had just gotten into the championship. Everyone was there, laughing and having a good time. **

**A guy walked in, not much older than Troy, maybe a couple years, in a trench coat. He looked around and found the food table. He walked over there, hiding in the low lights. He found a cup with 'Troy' scribbled on it and slipped a small amount of something from a silver bottle into Troy's cup. The man then slipped the silver vile back into his pocket and walked out of the party quickly, avoiding being seen. Nobody noticed him going, tainting the drink or walking out.**

**Troy walked in from the patio. He looked around for his cup and spotted it. He took a small drink and set it down again, not tasting any difference in the punch inside. He went out to the backyard to the dance floor and thought nothing of it. **

**:End Flashback 1:**

_**Later on that evening…**_

**Troy was getting tired. He had been dancing all night and decided to hit the hay. He found Chad, waved to him and motioned at his watch. Chad nodded and waved. Troy hopped in the car, getting a bit tired. As he pulled out her say Gabriella waving to him. He smiled at her and waved. She blew him a kiss. **

**"I love you!" she said. **

**"I love you, too!" he said from in his car. The two smiled as Troy pulled his car along the road. Gabriella began walking in the direction of her house. **

**As he was driving, Troy got more and more tired, but paid no attention to it. He'd be home soon anyways. He got to one of the major intersections and waited for his light to go green. His light turned green and he eased into the intersection along with another car to his left. He suddenly heard screaming and the honking of horns, a crunch, then he saw blackness and heard nothing but eerie silence. **

**:End Flashbacks:**

_Let him know that you know best_

_Cause after all you do know best_

_Try to slip past his defense_

_Without granting innocence_

"Get this off of him!" one man yelled to another. They quickly unscrewed the steering wheel and threw it to the side of the road.

"On the count of three!" the other said.

"One, two, three!" they said, and pulled an unconscious Troy from his car. His head had a cut that was bleed, and his arm was out of shape. What caught the teens, especially Gabriella, were his legs. They both had a lot of cuts, but his right knee was bent out of shape. His left foot was completely smashed as far as they could tell.

"Hey, wait, I got a wallet!" one yelled as they pulled Troy out. He flipped the wallet open and found his driver's license and student ID.

"Troy Bolton of East High, 18, and by the looks of it, played basketball," one yelled to the other, speaking of the pictures of Troy with all the team and one with Gabriella.

Gabriella cried and hung onto Chad and Jason while Kelsi and Taylor rubbed her back. The paramedic walked over and saw the teens.

"Is he your friend?" the paramedic who found the wallet yelled at them over the rope. He checked the pictures. Gabriella nodded.

"I'm Dave. You were in some pictures here. Do you mind coming with him?" he asked Gabriella. She nodded silently. Dave motioned for her to come under the rope and he helped her climb into the ambulance. The other paramedic began talking to the rest of the gang.

"I'm Bill. Now, I'm assuming you don't have a car with you?" he asked them. The teens nodded. The paramedic thought for a while and called into his radio.

"Er, hi, this is Bill. I'm wondering if Officer Danielson could take a couple kids up to the hospital?" he said into the speaker. Someone on the other end said yes. Bill led them over to two cop cars.

"Okay, your friend…" he said, letting them tell him Gabriella's name.

"Gabriella," Taylor supplied.

"Gabriella, will get there a little before us. Now, before you ask, I have no idea about your friend Troy. We'll just hope for the best, okay?" Bill said, shedding some light on the situation.

_Lay down a list of what is wrong_

_The things you've told him all along_

_And pray to God he hears you_

_And pray to God he hears you_

Gabriella tried to stay strong, for Troy's sake, even though he couldn't see or hear her. The paramedic riding in the back with Troy gave her a blanket to wrap around herself. She nodded at him in appreciation. He turned back to Troy, trying to find out the worst of the situation.

Gabriella looked out the small window above her head. She sighed as she saw a bunch of teenagers on the front steps of a park, laughing. They turned the corner and sped up towards the hospital. Five other men, who seemed an arrangement of doctors and paramedics, helped the gurney with the unconscious Troy on it out of the back doors of the ambulance. A couple nurses rushed up to Gabriella as soon as the doctor's had rushed off with Troy. Gabriella tightened her grip on the blanket and looked at them fearfully.

"Oh, no, it's okay sweetie," said one nurse. Gabriella looked at her name tag and saw her name was Emily.

"It's gonna be alright," the other soothed. Gabriella looked at her name tag and saw her name was Natasha. Both nurses had white coats on and blue scrubs underneath.

"Yeah, you just gotta get out of here now," Emily said, smiling. She lifted up her hand for Gabriella to grab. Gabriella gave in and grabbed the nurse's hand and was escorted to the lobby.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life_

Taylor, Chad, Kelsi and Jason all ran into the hospital from the police cars. They stumbled in and found Gabriella, huddled on a chair with two nurses around her. The nurses looked up at the teens.

"Here, maybe you can get her to talk," they said, motioning for them to try. Taylor, Chad, Kelsi and Jason all sat beside and below her chair.

"Gabriella, you can hear me, right?" Chad joked. Gabriella couldn't help but smile with the tiniest corner of her mouth.

"I saw that! I made her smile. Yes, it was I, the great Chadini!" Chad said proudly. Gabriella giggled, realized what she had done and went back into her stone face mood. The teens sighed.

"You know, this is a touchy subject, but I don't think Troy would want you sad," Kelsi pointed out. Jason and the rest of the gang nodded. Slowly, Gabriella began to nod as well.

"You're right. He'll be alright, of course he will. He's Troy," Gabriella said. The rest of them gave her hugs. They sat for about an hour and a half, reading magazines, getting coffee or just staring into space. A doctor came out.

"You said his parents were away?" the doctor asked. Gabriella nodded.

"If this isn't too much to ask, could you figure out how to contact them? I know I shouldn't dump this on patients' friends or family, but right now I need all the help I can get," the doctor pleaded. Chad nodded.

"I've got their information. I'll phone them in a while," he said. The doctor nodded gratefully.

"Oh, and I'm Dr. Jacobs, but you can call me Sarah. If you need anything, Emily and Natasha can help," she said, motioning to the nurses at the reception desk. She waved at them and pointed towards the room she came from.

"Well, I've got to be off, but I'll let you know about Troy in a couple minutes," Sarah said, sliding into the room.

_As he begins to raise his voice_

_You lower yours and grant him one last choice_

_Drive until you lose the road_

_Or break with the ones you've followed_

Gabriella mind was running. She was thinking of all her good times with Troy. Her head was like a movie, playing over and over again. For some reason, it kept stopping on that fateful day when Troy and she sang 'Breaking Free'. Visions of her and Troy dancing along the stage haunted her mind. Her thoughts were quickly shaken when Dr. Jacobs came out.

"Ok, I've got some news for you. Before I tell you, I have to warn you that it's not pretty. If for some reason you wouldn't like to hear it, please leave now and I can brief you later," Sarah warned. The teens looked at each other and nodded. They were ready for anything. They braced themselves for the news.

"Ok, I guess you're fine with it. Anyways, Troy is still unconscious, which is a bit worrying. We figured after he'd wake up within a half hour or so after the surgery, but he hasn't," she began. The teens looked alarmed as she said 'surgery'. Sarah grimaced. This was not going to be fun.

"And now for the really bad news… the crash sent him flying forward onto his steering wheel. Now, the airbag caught him before he could injure his head, but his lower abdomen, we're not so sure. We x-rayed and saw a couple broken ribs. His lung was poked in one place at some time, but it's only a little bruised. He's got a bit of a short breath, but he should be fine in that area. His wrist is slightly sprained, but in a very painful way. And moving onwards, I'll cut straight to the chase. His legs aren't looking so good. His left foot has several fractures and broken bones. His right knee was cut above it, and he sprained it quite badly. He had many, many cuts on his legs we had to deal with before we could actually figure out any of the fractures. He woke up for a very short period of time while we were prepping him for surgery. We asked him what felt sore or hurt. He talked about his chest and his wrist. We asked him about his legs and he said his legs didn't hurt at all," Sarah finished worriedly.

_He will do one of two things_

_He will admit to everything_

_Or he'll say he's just not the same_

_And you'll begin to wonder why you came_

Gabriella looked at where Sarah had been standing. She was still in shock. The rest of the gang sat her down in a chair and tried to get her to talk.

"His legs…" she whispered. Visions of Troy playing basketball flashed through her head. She whimpered as she thought back on the day of the championship, the day East High claimed their trophy. Flashes of him dancing with her on stage, him riding his bike, him shooting hoops in his front yard and him joking with his friends were all images floating around Gabriella's empty head. Chad grabbed her and held her close.

"He's not gone. He's with you. And anyways, I won't let him go. We'll lose and I'll be lonely," Chad said, the last part dramatically. Taylor whacked him for being so self centered and Gabriella chuckled and shook her head sadly. They all sat, staring at a certain spot in the carpet when Dr. Jacobs walked in again.

"Troy has come back to visit us! He is in stable condition and says he might wring my neck if I don't let you guys come in. And from him, it's a big threat, seeing as it's very hard for him to talk…" Sarah laughed. The teens laughed and thanked her. Gabriella laughed and walked past Dr. Jacobs. She stopped and backed up.

"Did you ever know that you're a wonderful person?" Gabriella asked the older woman.

"I've never actually heard that before," Sarah said, very flattered, yet confused.

"Well, you are. Thank you!" Gabriella said loudly, and hugged the doctor tightly. She let go of her and ran into Troy's room.

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life_

Gabriella walked into Troy's room. She saw him, a small, fragile, and weak Troy, but a Troy nonetheless. She smiled and walked quickly to his bedside. She took his hand.

"You'll make it through this," she promised him. He gripped her hand tighter.

"Only if you're with me," he said. For the next half hour, the teens talked, told stories of the party, and jabbered on like the usually would. Every once in a while it would get awkward, seeing as Troy had nothing to say. Finally, Taylor and Chad decided to head home, but they promised they'd be in next morning before Troy got up. Sadly, Troy knew this was true and just _couldn't wait _until tomorrow morning when Taylor found a way to wake him up. Jason soon followed suit, saying that he was getting tired too. Kelsi called her mom and arranged for her to pick them all up. They all said their final goodbyes and left Troy. Gabriella was still sitting with him, while he was sitting quietly, just staring at her. His eyelids began to get heavier and heavier, and Troy was falling asleep before Gabriella's eyes. She rubbed his hair and smiled at him.

"_Soaring, flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach, if we're trying, yeah, we're breaking free_…" she sang to him.

A/N- So, I liked it. It's not usually my type of story, and this plot is so over used, but I decided I'd give it a shot. I'm thinking of more chapters. Let me know.

Credits that are creditable- I do not own 'Breaking Free', a song from the classic Disney original 'High School Musical'.


	2. We're All In This Together

**Disclaimer: **I do not own HSM.

**A/N- **So, I got more than a couple reviews and 3 of them said they wanted to continue with the story. I'm not very big on replying to reviews (they take to long to load the reply screen) but I appreciate them very much!

**Bostonsk8ter9- **Yes, I want to know what happened to his legs as well.

**Smallvillegirl92- **Thank you, I worked quite hard on it. I'm hoping to get some more chapters up soon.

**Zac's my boyfriend- **Updating in progress!

**XxTinkyBlondieBellxX- **Thanks! After your review I decided to make this with way more chapters. Maybe it'll get more hits than my CBTD one…

Troy woke with a light breeze across his face and sun gleaming down on his head. He blinked twice and rubbed his eyes, being careful of the IV intake. As he opened his eyes he saw a flash of red and white. He blinked again and then looked towards the end of his bed. He saw the basketball team, the drama club, and all his other friends from school.

"Taylor…" he said. Taylor grinned. As soon as Troy said a word, the questions were pounded on him.

"Are you okay?"

"What's wrong?"

"Are you gonna make it to the basketball game?"

"Is it going to take a while to heal?"

"ENOUGH!" Gabriella yelled. They were all surprised that such a small girl could be so loud.

"He's in a stable condition. Broken bones and all that, but they stopped the internal bleeding. A lot of things are wrong. We'll tell you more later. No, he's not going to make the game. And yes, it's going to take a long time to heal, and a lot of physical therapy after that," Gabriella said, answering all the questions. The group seemed to let out and audible sigh. Sharpay knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?" she asked, Ryan following her closely.

"'Pay! Of course you can!" Gabriella said, running to hug Sharpay. Sharpay smiled and hugged her tightly. She let go and ran over to Troy's side.

"What's up?" she asked him.

"Well, I was in a car crash last night, I was in surgery for about an hour and I was woken up by Miss Let's-have-a-pep-rally-for-Troy over here," he said, pointing his thumb over to Taylor, who just laughed. Zeke climbed out of the small crowd.

"I baked you some cookies. Gabriella told me that they were your favorite. I know you might not be hungry now, but maybe later," Zeke explained excitedly. Troy laughed.

"Wonderful, Zeke. Actually, I'm starving," Troy said, popping the top of the tin of cookies. Gabriella put her hand on it.

"Dr. Jacobs said you couldn't eat until she took some tests to see how you're doing. I called her a minute ago," Gabriella began, as Dr. Jacobs walked in.

"Ah, I see that you have all your friends here," she said. Troy smiled at her as she grabbed his chart.

"Okay, so it says here that you were on low grade painkillers all night?" Dr. Jacobs asked. Troy nodded.

"And did you feel any pain or anything uncomfortable anywhere?" she questions. He shook his head. She smiled at the chart.

"Well that's good. Now it says you stayed conscious all of last night, correct?" Dr. Jacobs asked. Gabriella and Troy both nodded.

"Well then, I'm just going to check your breathing and a couple other things and then I'll be out of here and you can have some breakfast!" she said cheerily. She pushed the button to make him sitting up in his bed. She took off her stethoscope and put it to her ears. She lifted his shirt and stuck the end to his chest.

"Take a deep breath in," she instructed him. She heard nothing wrong and moved it to the other side of his chest.

"Again," she said. He breathed in and it was fine. She smiled and took the stethoscope out from her ear and from under his shirt. He pulled his shirt back down and smiled.

"Okay and you've had no bad reactions to any of the drugs we've given you? We gave you a small blast of morphine after the procedure last night, but we figured you'd just sleep it off," she said. Troy shrugged and shook his head.

"I'm okay," he said. The group let out yet another audible sigh. Ryan danced into the middle of the room from the back.

"And do you know why he's okay?" he yelled in his excited pep rally voice. He sounded like he had practiced the line all night. Dr. Jacobs quickly moved to the back of the room and hit a button.

"Yea!" all the others yelled back.

"Because--- We're all in this together, once we know, that we are, we're all stars and we see that, we're all in this together, and we know, that we stand, hand in hand, make our dreams come true…" they all sang and danced in perfect timing, Gabriella too. By the time they had finished, Troy was laughing so hard he barely even realized that Nurse Emily had brought his food in. He also hadn't realized that Taylor had set it up so that they were filming it.

"Great job, everyone!" Taylor yelled to them all. She ran over to the corner and turned off the video camera. She popped the tape out just as Troy figured out what she was doing.

"Hey, wait—what are you doing with that??!?!?" he asked her, knowing she had a devious plan up her sleeve.

"Oh nothing, I'm just going to show it at tomorrow's assembly!" she said, throwing her head back and laughing. Troy grumbled as Chad and Taylor walked out of the room, whispering plans to one another.

"So there goes my life," Troy muttered as the evil geniuses walked out the door. Gabriella laughed.

"Well, the school needed to know. I've already been bombarded by phone calls, texts and phone messages asking about you, and it's Sunday!" she laughed.

"Okay you guys, wonderful you came, time to go now," Sharpay said, ushering the group of teens out. Troy got his share of "Feel betters" and "goodbyes" from everyone as they left. The only ones left were Sharpay, Ryan, Jason, Kelsi, Gabriella, and of course, Troy. Dr. Jacobs walked in again.

"I loved your little dance. Very well organized," Dr. Jacobs grinned.

"Well that's because I did it," Sharpay said arrogantly. She laughed as she mocked her old self. The teens laughed and Dr. Jacobs chuckled.

"Okay, now down to business. I didn't want to ask while your other friends were here, but this is pretty serious. We don't know if you were maybe delusional or something last night, but I need to know about your legs," Dr. Jacobs said, getting serious again. She pulled the covers off him and put her chart down.

"Can you feel this?" the doctor asked, poking Troy's side. He grinned.

"Yes," he said.

"This?" she asked, poking his hip.

"Yup," he replied.

"Here?" she said, poking his upper thigh.

"Poke it," he said.

"Troy, I am," she said.

Dr. Jacobs looked at Troy worriedly. Troy looked up at the doctor and then to Gabriella, who looked equally worried.

"Troy, can you feel this?" Dr. Jacobs said, poking Troy's left foot, the one that was shattered.

"No," he said. Dr. Jacobs sighed.

"Can you try and maybe pull your knees up or move your foot?" the doctor said. Troy nodded. He stayed in the same position.

"Did they move?" he asked.

"Oh boy," Dr. Jacobs said.

Dr. Jacobs and Gabriella were outside Troy's hospital room talking.

"Are you sure it's permanent?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, no. There is such thing as temporary paralysis. In this case, it would be until his nerves and muscles grew back. We can speed the process up, but there is no immediate recovery," Dr. Jacobs explained.

"How long will it take?" Gabriella asked, worriedly.

"Well, on it's own it could never grow back to the state it was before. With help from some drugs and therapy, I would say about 6 months," Dr. Jacobs finished.

"Amazing what they can do with medicine nowadays," Gabriella muttered. Dr. Jacobs laughed.

"So, any news on his parents?" the doctor asked.

"Nope. Chad tried last night, but no one answered. They weren't at Troy's house, and then we tried their hotel. Reception said they checked out 2 days ago," Gabriella said sadly. Dr. Jacobs sighed.

"Well, keep trying if you have time. Right not we have to go tell Troy," Dr. Jacobs sighed. The two ladies walked back into Troy's room.

"So, Troy, I had some tests run and looked at some x-rays we took last night. A couple other doctors had some leads on what it could be, and that helped me a lot with figuring it out," Dr. Jacobs said. Troy nodded.

"So what is it?" Troy asked, smiling. Gabriella's faced clouded over with worry.

"Troy…" Gabriella said. Troy gave her an annoyed glare.

"I just wanna know why I can't feel my legs!!!" he yelled, crossing his arms.

"Troy, we think you have temporary paralysis," Dr. Jacobs said. Troy face turned stony. Gabriella grabbed his hand.

"W—www-what?" Troy stuttered. Dr. Jacobs sighed.

"You have temporary paralysis," she repeated, "A disease that, in its name, is only temporary. Or so we hope. What's happened is that when the car hit your side, your whole body shifted. When the car hit you in front, your body shifted backwards. But, since this was a car wreck, it was quite fast, meaning it knocked some things out of line. Basically what happened is that when you slammed forward into the wheel, your lower back, where the pressure was, shut down. So, the nerve system to your legs from the hips down is basically like a computer site, only crashed. We can only hope that with the right amount of therapy and the right medicines we can get you back on track," Dr. Jacobs concluded. Troy's face hadn't changed.

"B-bb-bas-kettball," he said shakily.

"Sorry?" Dr. Jacobs asked.

"He said basketball," Gabriella said, "He plays basketball. Captain and star player,"

"I'm so sorry," said Dr. Jacobs. Troy finally stopped stuttering and cleared his mind. He took a deep breath.

"Is there any chance of me playing again?" Troy asked bluntly.

"Actually, there is. Over 85 percent of people who had temporary paralysis lead normal lives after their recoveries," Dr. Jacobs pointed out.

"And the other 15 percent?" Troy asked.

"Troy!" Gabriella shrieked.

"It's alright; he has a right to know. Anyways, the other 15 percent had a bit of trouble doing big things like sports, but other than that, they were fine," his doctor said. Troy sighed.

"Well, you'll just have to stay positive then!" Gabriella said.

"So what's the first thing we're going to do?" Troy asked.

"Well, I'll send the physical therapist down and we can talk details," Dr. Jacobs said. She smiled and nodded at the two and left.

"It'll be alright, Troy," Gabriella said. Troy said nothing.

"Troy?" she asked him. He sighed.

"I really don't want to comment on that right now. I don't want to say something rude or mean. I really need you right now, but I don't need this," he said, motioning to the charts and IV lines. Gabriella smiled and kissed his forehead.

"You'll be fine. And you can say all the rude things you want to me, it doesn't matter," she said.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Reid **(not like in Scrubs, Reid is my mother's maiden name)**!" said a voice walking into the room. Troy looked up from his magazine and Gabriella turned her wandering attention to the man in a white coat that just entered the room.

"I'm going to be your physical therapist," Dr. Reid said. He picked up Troy's chart and looked over it.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun!" he said, obviously very hyper.

"Yeah, what could be more fun than growing back nerves and muscles?" Troy asked sarcastically.

"Hey, dude, with that kinda look on the world, you'll get nowhere fast," Dr. Reid said seriously. His face turned back to cheery and he looked at Gabriella.

"Ah, I see you are the lucky lady who I've been told has been sitting here all night!" he said. Gabriella nodded and grinned at his happy personality. Troy finally gave in and smiled as well.

"So, this will take a while. What I'm first going to ask you is to move your foot," Dr. Reid asked. Troy nodded and his face turned strained.

"Anything?" Troy asked him. Gabriella and Dr. Reid both shook their heads sadly.

"This will take a while," Dr. Reid said, sighing. Troy ran his hands through his hair.

"We'll get through this, babe," Gabriella said.


	3. I'll Be Your Crying Shoulder

**Disclaimer: **I do not own HSM.

**A/N: **So, like I said before, I'm really not big on this whole 'replying to reviews' thing, so just be sure to check back in if you sent me one. This would be greatly adored, of course. Whatever. I can't get the page breaks to work. So I just put 'break'.

**CO.ZE.TY.OMI2- **I'm glad you like it. I'm planning on about 20 chapters at most, but I don't know how it's going to play out.

**Katiedabest- **Yes, I couldn't bare to see Mr. Jock stuck in a wheelchair all the time. Wait till you read the next chapter!

**Zac's my boyfriend- **Yes, poor Troy…

**Smallvillegirl92- **Again, glad you like it. Like I said above, I have no idea to do with his parents. I might put a note at the end or something.

**ANGELMEGAN- **It's wonderful that people like it! I thought it would be an overused script, but apparently it isn't. Hmm.

_4 months after Troy's first visit with Dr. Reid_

Troy was progressing well now. He was around and about with a wheelchair, and since he was a basketball player, he had good arm muscles. They offered him a mechanical one, but he declined, saying he'd need the upper body strength. They agreed and encouraged him.

Troy was, however, getting a bit tired of having people hold doors for him. He was tired of people trying to help him across the street. He was tired of people calling him 'sweetie' and giving him little free things. He was tired of his life. Now, Troy was a reasonable young man, he didn't want his life to _end_He wasn't thinking suicidal, but he just wished it would all go away. Little did he know, it soon would. Troy gave up trying to move his legs unless he was with Dr. Reid at physical therapy. He had become quite good friends with the nurses and doctors at the hospital. Since he was missing so much school with his frequent doctor's appointments, the school let him do the work at home. Since Gabriella refused to leave his side, the school let her tutor him and she would go to school when she could. Today was yet another physical therapy session, and Gabriella wheeled him in at 10 am sharp, on a Saturday.

"Troy Bolton, Dr. Reid?" Gabriella asked Emily, the nurse. Emily smiled at the two.

"Right on time, I see. He's waiting for you in room 22," Emily said. The teens smiled at the nurse and Gabriella pushed Troy into the room.

"Hey Troy!" Dr. Reid said cheerily. _Does that man ever run out of energy? _Gabriella thought. _He's like the Energizer Bunny!_

"Hey, Reid man," Troy said. The two slapped hands and Gabriella and Dr. Reid lifted Troy onto the examination bed. Troy answered the questions before Dr. Reid could even ask.

"No, I haven't moved my legs this week. I haven't felt anything either. And no, I haven't tried to move them since 2 weeks ago, when I was last here," Troy said in one breath. Dr. Reid chuckled.

"Well, that's that taken care of," Dr. Reid said. Gabriella laughed.

"So, let's take a look at you, shall we?" Dr. Reid said, getting down to business. He and Gabriella helped Troy so they could see his legs.

"Okay, we'll take this slowly. So, try and bring your foot around in a big circle, like you would if your ankle was stuck," Dr. Reid said. Gabriella's eyes were fixated on Troy's legs, as they always were. Troy grunted and then, suddenly, his foot moved, slowly going around. Gabriella shrieked.

"What?" Troy asked. Gabriella stared at him in disbelieve.

"You just moved your foot!" she said excitedly. Dr. Reid was writing things on his chart a mile a minute.

"Troy, could you maybe try again?" Dr. Reid asked.

"Sure," Troy said. His face didn't go as strained as his foot went around this time. His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"I saw it! I see it! It moved! I felt it!" he gushed, excitedly. Gabriella just hugged him tight. Dr. Reid fled the room and came back with another doctor, Dr. Jacobs, who treated Troy in the first place.

"Troy, sorry to ask you again, could you move your foot around again?" Dr. Jacobs asked. Troy nodded. His face went red and then, all of a sudden, his knee moved up a couple inches. Both doctors grinned and Gabriella kissed him. Troy felt extremely proud of himself.

"Hey, Gabriella, could you-," Troy began. Gabriella laughed.

"Yes, I'm off to call Chad now. I'm sure he'll bring the rest of them along," she said, with laughter in her voice. She went outside Troy's room and called Chad. She heard the phone ring three times before someone picked up.

"'Ullo?" Chad said groggily.

"Chad, it's Gabriella," Gabriella said brightly. Chad groaned.

"What?" he asked obviously tired.

"Well if you don't want to come and see Troy moving his legs then I'll leave you to your sleeping…" Gabriella started.

"Good! I'm tired, and I need my slee--- Troy's legs are moving???" Chad said, perking up immediately.

"Yup. Get everyone over here. I'll call Sharpay, Ryan and Kelsi. You call the basketball team," Gabriella said.

"I'm on my way," Chad said. He hung up the phone and quickly redialed Taylor's number.

"Taylor? It's Chad. I've got some great news…" he started.

BREAKBREAKRBREAKBREAK

Within 45 minutes of Gabriella calling Chad to tell him, the whole drama club and basketball team were waiting impatiently outside his room. Finally, Dr. Reid came out of the room and smiled at them.

"Troy says that if I don't let you in he'll tear my head off," Dr. Reid said, "And he's got some arm strength, so I'm not gonna mess with him,"

The teens stormed into the small hospital room. Troy's eyes gleamed as he saw all the people that had supported him throughout the long period. Chad fought his way to the front of the room. Troy sat up in his bed. Chad couldn't take it anymore and gave him a 'man hug'.  
"You did it, man," Chad said with tears in his eyes. By now, Troy was close to tears as well. Gabriella and all the other girls in the room had silent tears falling down their cheeks. Jason was the one to break the silence.

"Move your foot!" he blurted, and then quickly covered his mouth, "Sorry, I had, like, 12 cups of coffee this morning,"

Troy laughed, as did everyone else. Jason tried to hide his face in shame. Slowly, Troy moved his foot, up and down.

Everyone was looking at him. He had tears in his eyes, which, if they weren't taken care of soon, would be dripping down his face. All the doctors and nurses and arrived at the door. Dr. Reid grabbed a Polaroid camera of the nurse's desk and quickly took a picture of Troy and his friends. Troy looked up and saw that Dr. Reid and Dr. Jacobs both had tears in their eyes, blurring their vision.

"This is extremely unheard of," Dr. Jacobs began, walking over to Troy's bed.

"Last week you couldn't move your legs, now you can," Dr. Reid said dumbly, still confused at what was happening.

"And now, we have to move on to the next level of treatment. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to tell you to leave now, people," Dr. Jacobs said, shooing the teens out. As per usually, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Jason and Kelsi all stayed. The two doctors looked at them and nodded.

"Okay, so Troy, we're going to set you up with your chair. Now here's the deal. You have to try once every morning at least to lift or move any part on your leg. If you don't, it's really not worth doing any of this," Dr. Reid reasoned. Troy nodded.

"And what to I get in return?" Troy joked.

"Walking," Dr. Reid joked back. Everyone laughed.

"Okay, so I think we're done here. I think it would be best if you came in next Saturday as well, just so we can check up on you. See you then!" Dr. Reid said. The doctors and teens said their goodbyes as they helped Troy into his chair. Gabriella pushed him out to her car and helped him in. She folded the chair and put it in the back.

Soon enough, they got to Troy's house only to find his parents there. Gabriella quickly got Troy in his chair and wheeled him inside.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" Troy asked happily as he wheeled over to his mother to give her a hug.

"Well, we came home earlier than we though to the basketball champs!" Kelly, Troy's mom, said.

"We?" Troy asked, his face falling.

"Troy!" they heard. Coach Bolton, also known as Jack Bolton, walked into the sitting room. Jack tried to come up to hug Troy, but he wheeled away.

"Father," Troy said. Jack's face turned from happy to hurt within seconds.

"Oh, come on, Troy, you aren't still mad at us, are you?" Jack asked cheerfully, as if it was no big deal.

"Dad, I was in a car accident! I was paralyzed from the waist down! And all you said was that you hoped I felt better and that you had to get back to your vacation in Hawaii! Of course I'm still fucking mad!" Troy said. Gabriella rubbed his shoulders.

"Don't you raise your voice with me!" Jack warned, now yelling. The two women just stood in the corner, looking at each other and then the father/son fight going on in front of them.

"Why not? Dad, face it, I'm a disappointment to you now that I can't play basketball. Admit it; you know it's what you're thinking. You know that given the chance, you'd probably disown me because you hate me so much. I mean, now all I do is eat all your food and sit around watching TV! Oh, wait, why is that? Because I was in a **car accident! **While you were vacationing!" Troy yelled. Jack's face crumbled.

"I don't hate you," Jack said weakly. Troy shook his head.

"Prove it. Prove that you don't. Proving it would mean being here when I needed you. Oh wait, I don't need you anymore. Seriously, dad, Gabriella has acted more like a parent to me than you! She's taken me to the doctor's appointments, she's made me food, and she's helped me do almost everything! While you… You haven't done anything! You just wished I got better, like I had a cold! No dad, if you didn't know, I had temporary paralysis! Yeah, that means I couldn't move my legs for a long time. I'm sure that after a while you would've been done with me. If I wasn't getting better, I mean. But hey, guess what! I am! I moved my knee today. I haven't been able to do that since the crash," Troy said. He quickly rolled himself out the door and began wheeling himself down the street. Gabriella gave Jack and evil eye and ran out to find him.

"Troy!" she yelled, running down the street. She saw his retreating wheelchair turn left on the street. Troy wheeled himself to the park on his block. He stopped when he came to the playground.

"Troy…" Gabriella said softly, after running towards him.

"Gabriella," troy said, looking up at her. She looked down at his soft blue eyes.

"Why can't I make him proud of me? I thought he would be after today's doctors' appointment," Troy said, tears filling his eyes. I broke Gabriella's heart to see Troy in this way.

"Troy, he's just getting used to it," Gabriella said shakily. Troy shook his head yet said nothing. Gabriella sighed and began wheeling around the park. Troy laughed as he saw 2 little kids bouncing a rubber ball on the basketball court, trying to make it in the hoop. Gabriella smiled as she saw the spark in his eyes. She hadn't seen it for a long time.

BREAKBREAKRBREAKBREAK

Troy, his mother (Kellie from now on—did you know that she is just credited as 'Mrs. Bolton' in HSM?? No name!) and Jack sat at the table and ate silently. It was the first meal Troy had shared with his parents since the accident, and it was a bit awkward. First off, they had to raise to table a couple inches, putting books underneath the legs, to make it so Troy's chair could fit. Then, Kellie, as usual, expected Troy to set the table. And then, Troy forgot to set the locks on his chair so throughout dinner he was slowly going backwards the whole time.

"Can't you just get rid of the chair?" Jack asked coldly.

"Yeah dad, I'll just walk right out of it," Troy shot back. Kellie looked at her husband in shame.

"Jack, you have no right to say that. You don't know what he's going through. I know it hurts him to not be able to play basketball just as much as it hurts you. Probably more. All I want you to know is that you should respect him and not put him down. For the record, this is not the man I married," Kellie said calmly. She picked up some plates and carried them into the kitchen. Troy took a drink and then put some plates on his lap and wheeled into the kitchen.

"Troy, your father's just getting used to it…" Kellie began.

"My father bullshit! He's not getting used to it! He's ready to find a new team captain and star player!" Troy said. He wheeled himself to his room and called Gabriella.

"Gabriella? It's Troy…" he began.

A/N- Okay, so it's a bit shorter. I like it. Will Troy's dad realize his mistakes? Will Troy ever get out of his wheelchair? Will we meet the person who hit Troy? Why am I asking you think if I know?


	4. Author's Note Please Read!

**Hey guys!**

**I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry for not updating… all summer. I've been really busy, and I just didn't want to. I had some writers block. But now the school year has started again, my brain is on, so hopefully I'll get some more chapters churned out soon enough. **

**I really appreciate all the nice reviews, they mean a lot to me. Everyone favorited my stories or chose me as a favorite author, I really appreciate it. Like I said, it means a lot to me. Also, those of you in the C2's—GIGGLE! GLEE! OH EM GEE!! Thankies! I'm happy you liked them (my stories) enough to put them in your collection. **

**I'm going to be posting this on all my stories so that people know what's going on. I will take it down when I have a new chapter to put up. Hopefully I'll wrap up a couple stories within the next couples weeks, but I don't know. If you want any further information, please message me ******** I'm open to answer any question you may have! AND- suggestions! I'd love to hear what you think should happen, or what you've read in other stories and liked… But I must go now. So again, thanks to everyone and hopefully you'll be reading more than AN's soon!!**

**Ciao for now, **

**Anna **


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